India to hike green energy output by 2022

Pledging to quadruple India’s renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatt by 2022 and cut fossil fuel subsidies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked world’s top economies to build support systems focused on nations that have the maximum growth potential.

He also asked them to keep infrastructure financing in developing countries as a key priority.

In his lead intervention at G-20 Working Lunch on Development and Climate Change, he offered seven points for consideration, which include shift from “carbon credit” to “green credit” and increase in share of traffic on public transport in cities by 30 per cent by 2030.

“I propose that we consider how G-20 can build support systems that focus on countries with maximum growth potential, help address specific bottlenecks there and facilitate implementation of country strategies,” he said, adding that the grouping of world’s top 20 economies, including the US and China, must continue to focus on infrastructure.

Clean energy and environment friendly infrastructure, he said, will address both development and climate change.

“Bridging the current gap in infrastructure finance in the developing countries should remain our key priority.

“Through bold economic and governance reforms, we have achieved a growth rate of nearly 7.5 per cent with strong prospects for a higher growth rate in the near future,” he said. “Given our size and scale, India can become a pillar of global growth and stability.” With India being the largest recipient of remittances in the world, Mr Modi asked G-20 to cut transaction cost for transferring money from abroad.

“Remittances are a key source of income for households and support for the economy in developing countries. We should define a target date before 2030 to reduce the high costs of transferring remittances,” he said.

The transaction cost which was about 10 per cent has come down to 7.5 per cent because of sustained campaign by India. The target is to bring it down to three per cent by 2030 but Mr Modi wants this to be achieved earlier.